Weiss: Rockies will play 'right way'

New manager wants Colorado to get back to winning

DENVER -- A very businesslike and confident Walt Weiss was officially introduced as the new manager of the Colorado Rockies on Friday afternoon at Coors Field.

Weiss, 48, has never managed in the big leagues, but he vowed to get the Rockies back on track.

"The bottom line, we've got to win games," he said during opening remarks to select season-ticket holders and the media. "As a player, that's what I love about the game. It's a bottom-line business, it's all about W's. We line up and take our best shot every day, from top to bottom.

"I have very strong convictions about how the game should be played. I will communicate that to our guys."

The Rockies went 64-98 this past season, the worst record in franchise history. Weiss vowed he would stress fundamentals and "playing the game the right way."

His road map comes from those men he played for during his 14-year big league career -- the Oakland A's Tony La Russa, the Florida Marlins' Rene Lachemann, the Rockies' Don Baylor and the Atlanta Braves' Bobby Cox. Those men molded Weiss into someone who wowed the Rockies' front office during the interview process, when he went from longshot candidate most recently coaching at Regis Jesuit to the favorite. Though Weiss has been away from the majors since 2002, his knowledge of the game and confidence won him the job.

"We were sitting and discussing very difficult and complex issues as a major league manager and how we'd deal with players," said Bill Geivett, the Rockies' senior vice president of major league operations.

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"With the questions coming at him, to watch him think and respond, you'd really think more along the lines of being with a more experienced major league manager.

"And I think he really understood the complex issues of the clubhouse. It was very, very striking."

Weiss broke into the big leagues under La Russa and was named American League rookie of the year in 1988. As a rookie manager Weiss said he will once again rely on the lessons he learned from La Russa, who managed 5,097 regular-season games over 33 seasons, won three World Series and six pennants.

"I was young and impressionable when I came into the league, but still to this day, a lot of how I see the game is through him," Weiss said. "He was a really unique competitor. I learned the game from Tony. A lot of the way I see the game is through his eyes. He had a huge impact on me."

La Russa was known as a forceful, intense manager who got his teams to play hard to the final out. With reliever Dennis Eckersley in Oakland, La Russa refined the way a closer was used. He examined pitching matchups like a scientist.

La Russa loved having super utility players such as Mike Gallego of the A's and Aaron Miles of the Cardinals. He utilized his entire roster. He left no advantage sitting in the dugout.

Cox won 14 division titles with the Braves and Weiss played on three of those teams with a much different style than La Russa. From Cox, Weiss learned about team chemistry.

"Bobby was the best I've ever been around in the game at creating loyalty amongst the club -- nobody better," Weiss said.

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